Family bonding
by Sagakure
Summary: Haruka & Juri fail to realize the danger that Rido is, and entrust little Kaname to him for babysitting. The experience may teach Kaname much on survival...if he survives it! Passed some years before the Rido incident. Not yaoi, more like creepy fluff.
1. Chapter 1

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_The first chapter of this story was originally posted in my collection of short stories and drabbles, "Scattered Leaves", but it ended up growing into a short series. I didn't want to post the chapters all out of order and make the drabble collection all messy, nor could I erase the chapter that's already in it since then all the chapter numbers in the reviews would be off... So the first chapter will work both as a stand-alone short story in "Scattered Leaves", and as the first chapter of this short Rido & Kaname series.  
Sorry for the mess. XD;_

_So, if you already read the first chapter in "Scattered Leaves", just skip it and go directly for chapter 2, I guess? XD;_

_**Title: Family bonding?  
Characters:**__ Rido and little Kaname. (A bit of Juri and Haruka as well.)_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own Vampire Knight, this is a fanfic written for fun and for love of the series. I'm not making any money with it.  
__**Warnings:**__ Implied spoilers for chapter 35-36 of the manga, and a tiny bit of 42, possibly._

_**Summary:** Haruka and Juri fail to realize the danger that Rido is, and entrust little Kaname to him for babysitting. The experience may teach Kaname much about survival...if he survives it, that is! Passed some years before the incident with Rido. Creepy slice-of-life fic._

_By the way, the fic is not yaoi, although one could say there are yaoi vibes for some years later, but the fic itself is just a mix of comical moments and drama, in a slice-of-life type of situation just to see the interaction between Rido and Kaname before things became even more complicated.  
It's a mix of angst and fluff with a creepy twist! XD lol  
Although there are rather creepy moments and hints of Rido abusing Kaname in the future, so if that squicks you, don't read._

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The doorbell rang, musical and eerie in the silence of the early evening. Snow had been falling all afternoon, blanketing the manor and the nearby countryside in a veil of white that muffled all sounds of nature and gave the place a dreamy feel. The area was already normally a little isolated, but this made it seem even more so.

Little Kaname was well used to snow. He had seen four winters already, and had his fair share of snowball fights and other winter activities. But when it came to this house, he found the dreamy feel of a white winter to be unsettling and kind of scary.

He clung tighter to his mother's hand, shivering and instinctively sucking up the warmth emanating from her body as he clung closer to her. She looked at her watch and sighed warily, ringing yet again. _Where were the servants?!_

The door finally opened, suddenly and without warning, startling the little vampire and making his mother take an instinctive step backwards. Her eyebrows rose at the sight of who came to greet them. Rido had opened the door himself, his right arm folded behind his back and his other one leaning casually on the doorframe to his left.

"You have no servants to greet your guests anymore, _my_ _brother_?" There was bite to be clearly heard in her words.

"Come, come, have I made you wait, Juri?" His voice was as charming as ever, but his smile belied it, as usual a mix of seductiveness and danger hidden not far beneath the surface.

"They were annoying me, so I sent them away and will be hiring new ones. That's why I didn't realize at first that you had already arrived." And turning to little Kaname, he continued "It's just the two of us, little friend."

Instinctively, Kaname felt a sudden urge to hide behind his mother. But he was a pureblood vampire, child or not, and it was also in his instincts to know better than show any fear in front of someone dangerous enough to actually instill dread in him.

Especially when he was scheduled to spend the next 24 hours with said person while his parents traveled to a vampire congress in a nearby country.

Juri was suddenly more cautious, however. "You're alone? Perhaps we could postpone this then, after all, it will be too much trouble and I wouldn't want to burden you with-"

"Nonsense!! Kaname and I are big enough to take care of ourselves, aren't we, Kaname?" In saying so, Rido quickly reached for Kaname's other little hand, tugging him slightly towards himself. The little vampire didn't resist, but didn't release his mothers hand either, and gazed up at her face inquiringly, standing between the two.

Juri's lips were pressed together in a thin line, worry starting to become clear on her face. "I don't know, I wouldn't want him to annoy you. He's still small after all." But the reason of her hesitation was obvious to the two of them, and probably even to Kaname despite his age. Juri wasn't too reassured about leaving her child alone with her brother. Not that the servants would have made any difference against a pureblood vampire, but they would perhaps have avoided Kaname getting in Rido's way and provoking his anger by accident.

"Oh, come on. Don't tell me you don't trust me? I'm your brother!"

The half-smile on his face was that same one that usually reminded Juri why she had broken up her engagement with him, and chosen the mellow and soft-hearted Haruka instead, facing a scandal in the vampire society and causing the drastic change of the head of the Kuran clan.

But if Rido was creepy, he was also very persistent when someone opposed him. "If you don't trust me, trust that husband of yours then. It was his idea that the boy and I spend time together more often to get to know each other better and all. The importance of family links and yadda yadda, you know those things, it's so Haruka." He vaguely rolled his eyes at the end of the sentence, but the tone in his voice, whether it be artificial or not, was endearing enough that Juri couldn't help but let a little smile creep into her eyes, worried as she may still be.  
_Ah, a little victory there.  
_Rido continued "You trusted him enough to ditch me for him. You must trust him enough to follow his decisions, no?"

It was hard for Juri to refuse now without openly disavowing Haruka's ideas and choices.

She hesitated, and shot a last gaze at her son and at her brother before deciding. Rido was smiling at her sheepishly, and Kaname glanced up innocently. Her heart squeezed in her chest. She told herself that in the worst case, the two would get on each other's nerves, but there wasn't much Rido really could do. Kaname was the heir to the Kuran bloodline. Laying a hand on him with harmful intent would be suicide for any vampire of lower station, and for a pureblood it would be life in imprisonment. Which, in itself wasn't very far from how some female purebloods lived, but for a male, especially a Kuran, it was unthinkable. And creepy as Rido may be around women, Kaname was a boy, surely he was safe?  
No, she didn't think Rido would do anything foolish. _He would never dare. How could he do anything? _And in the worst case, whatever he may do to annoy Kaname would just be a useful lesson that not all vampires are perfectly safe to be around, and that even a pureblood –especially a pureblood-- had to be wary of lowering his guard, even around a closer relation. Kaname was normally over-protected, so this might do him good.

Perhaps it was denial over the very real danger Rido may come to represent one day, but at this point, Juri didn't quite realize yet how bad things could be, and her motherly heart was trying to rationalize what she knew she had to accept for the sake of social relations, and in hopes that the Kurans would be all on friendly terms as Kaname grew up. She made up her mind and let go of her son's little hand.

Rido grinned at her, pulling the boy closer. "I'll see you tomorrow-ish then? Around the same time as usual?"

"Y-Yes. I'll come pick him up earlier if I can, but otherwise, yes."

"Well, you and Haruka have fun with whatever the hell you two are doing. Kaname and I will be enjoying some fun fun bonding time together, won't we?" The fake eagerness in his voice wasn't too reassuring either.

She eyed them warily for a little bit, before Rido let go of Kaname's hand for a second to wave at her in an exaggerated manner, then grabbed the little hand again and pulled Kaname inside quickly, closing the door with his foot.

Juri frowned and stared at the door a little bit longer, as if it would magically open and return her child, then she backed away slowly and went for her car, her heart sinking a bit in her chest. These 24 hours ahead weren't going to be relaxing at all.

Kaname didn't like the cold dark hall of Rido's manor. He shivered a bit, feeling less brave now that his mom had left. Rido was still holding his hand in a tight grip, unmoving from behind the door, staring from the peephole until Juri drove away and disappeared from sight.

At which point he turned to the little boy and cheerfully thrust forward the bottle he had been holding in his other hand, hidden behind his back throughout the whole time he had the door open.

"Want some blood wine, Kaname?! I bet your mom doesn't let you have that!"

The puzzled look on the wide open little dark eyes was in perfect contrast with the corruptive grin on the older pureblood's face.

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(tbc)

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_Sagakure, August 15th 2008_

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_The setting is not that Rido is an alcoholic or anything. He's just a jerk doing this on purpose. XD lol_


	2. Chapter 2

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_**Title: "Family bonding?" – part 2**_.

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Juri had left. Not to return for a whole day, and Rido's experiment at _parenting_ was still ongoing with little Kaname.

He was currently leaning over to be at a closer height to Kaname's, and quite insistently shoving the bottle of blood wine at him.

"Drink it."

"I'm not supposed to."

"Who will know if we don't tell anyone?"

"But it's not right… mother and father told me blood wine has alcohol and I shouldn't have any until I'm older and-"

Rido didn't even bother replying, but the look on his face silenced the little vampire right in the middle of his sentence.  
Kaname's uncle was looking at him making a kind of a scrunched up face that one may make to comically emphasize their disgust upon seeing a squashed bug or something similar.

They stared at each other for a second, not saying anything. Kaname's eyes were wide open again, and he was wondering if he should be more worried that his uncle seemed displeased or that he was leaning so close to him. The expression on Rido's face let Kaname see well how long the older pureblood's fangs were.

Meanwhile, Rido's gaze kept changing as he stared at Kaname with a more heightened disgust whenever the little vampire's expression reminded him more of Haruka, and with a certain kind of fondness when the expression looked more like Juri's.

_Juri had been a really cute kid. _Kaname looked a lot more like her than like Haruka, luckily. Or perhaps not so luckily for Kaname, but at the moment, the wrong type of thoughts weren't going through Rido's head yet, and he was just remembering how cute Juri used to look as a kid, when he would startle her and her eyes would widen that way too. _He should startle little Kaname more often, it was cute and entertaining._

For the time being, he remembered the matter at hand and shoved the bottle at his nephew, determined and sounding more angry than amused now. "Drink!!"

Kaname almost jumped at the tone of his uncle's voice, but stilled himself. "J-Just a sip then."

_Victory! _Rido uncorked the bottle quickly and shoved it in the little vampire's hesitant hands. Kaname grasped it unsteadily and took a sip, surprised by how rich the liquid tasted when it first touched his tongue. Then, the burning hit him –blood wine was quite strong after all— and he broke down coughing and coughing, his little hands flying to cover his mouth as he choked. Some of it had gotten in his nose when he coughed too, and it burned in a most unpleasant manner.

Rido had retrieved the bottle before it fell and was making that disgusted grimace again as he straightened himself angrily.

_Uninteresting whelp! _He took a long swig of the wine, staring Kaname down as he did.

In many things, vampires did mature sooner than humans, but not that much sooner. It was not fair to expect a child of Kaname's age to drink like a man, but Rido's double standards rarely made sense.

The boy fidgeted, his little face red with a blush brought up both by the embarrassment and by the effects of the wine. _It was just a little bit, but that wine felt so strong! _It was so much worse than the one time when he drank the tiny bit of white wine that was left in his father's cup, while his parents left the room during a party. He had also felt dizzy then, but he hadn't choked; although he did get caught, due to the fact that he couldn't stop laughing at everything around himself, and all his parents had to do was take a whiff of his breath to know why.

He didn't feel like laughing right now though. The look on Rido's face made him feel a dreadful cold in his stomach, sobering him up quite quickly, even though he still felt a tidbit tipsy.

The older pureblood turned around and walked away, ignoring Kaname altogether. The little boy stared, wondering if he was expected to stay there in front of the entry door and be quiet or if he should follow him. He didn't want to loiter aimlessly in other people's homes without knowing if it was okay, and truth to be said, the large dark hall didn't inspire him much confidence, so he ran after his uncle while trying to be as silent as possible, as if by making less noise he might lessen the chances that Rido would pay attention to him. Kaname's little legs had trouble catching up with the long strides of the adult, and Rido didn't slow down for him, so the little boy had to trot along the corridor to keep up with him.

They passed by an ornate _porte-manteau_, and Rido stopped suddenly, remembering something.

If Kaname didn't already have excellent reflexes, he might have collided with the back of his uncle's legs. As it was, it nearly happened, his reactions being slightly slowed down by the alcohol in his blood, little as he may have drank. He was still very small after all.

He was glad he had stopped on time. Rido was staring him down again, something that never failed to make the boy's hair stand in the back of his neck, but for the moment at least, that look was surprisingly mostly harmless. Kaname fidgeted, occupying his little hands by tugging at the flaps of his thick winter coat's pockets.

That caught the man's attention. _Oh yes, that's why he was feeling like he had forgotten something. _

Rido was known for having a number of lovers, some of which bore him children already, but he couldn't care less for the offspring. He was undeniably a bachelor, and knew nothing at all of children. He actually had been staring at Kaname wondering if what the boy was wearing was an outer coat that needed to be taken off when inside, or something the boy may wear indoors.

Having realized it was a miniature version of a winter coat, Rido leaned over, pulled Kaname closer by the lapel of his coat and started unbuttoning it. Kaname stiffened in surprise.

As an adult vampire in full control of his abilities, Rido could sense the blood in each of the boy's veins, and it told him of Kaname's heartbeats accelerating in worry, feeling vulnerable being undressed by him. The older pureblood chuckled in sadistic amusement while he tugged the sleeves of the coat off his nephew's little arms. Kaname had quickly pondered whether he should volunteer to remove his coat himself, or whether this refusal would be more likely to attract more interest, and had opted for remaining silent and just letting his uncle do it.

Underneath, Kaname was wearing a dark little redingote coat that came down to his mid-thighs, over a muted sweater and a crisp little white shirt with a delicate tie. Dark little shorts and a warm pair of knee-high socks completed his elegant little outfit.

Rido tossed the little coat over an empty spot on the coat hanger and sized the boy up from the corner of his eyes. _Was Juri a fool, to dress her son so cutely and send him to him?! Or was she playing with fire?_

He put on a cold façade and declared dryly "You're nowhere as cute as your mother used to be when she was your age" before resuming his walking. A gross lie, but it was best for now.

Kaname followed him while pondering on whether that was a good thing for him, or whether it was supposed to be an insult. Innocent as he may be, his vampire instincts were flawless, telling him of any possible situation in which someone may be the prey or the predator and what outcome to expect. Those were vital instincts for survival among vampires.

He may not understand yet why, but those same instincts whispered to him that it was probably a good thing that Rido didn't find him as cute as his mother. He hoped it was the truth, and that it would stay that way.

The corridors in Rido's manor seemed endless, or at least they did for one with such tiny legs. The long hall had a wall filled with tall glass panes from which one may gaze at the garden outside, but Rido didn't care for the view and Kaname was still too short to reach, so he merely focused on the shadowed lines the windows left on the ground with the moonlight. He was currently attempting to walk fast enough to keep up with his uncle, but without stepping on any of the lines on the ground, skipping to only place his little feet over the moonlit areas. It took concentration, because he was still a bit dizzy from earlier, and he didn't want to walk too funny either, afraid that it might alter too much the sound of his footsteps and further attract his uncle's attention.  
It was more than a childish game, it was an exercise of concentration to attempt to keep his mind sharp to fight the effects of the blood wine in his veins.

But as they passed a thick, old door, he couldn't help but ask something he had always wondered the few times he had visited his uncle.

"Uncle, what's behind that door?"

The word 'uncle' grated in Rido's ears and he grit his teeth in annoyance before answering with a mockingly sweet voice.

"Oh, would you like to see? It's the entry to my secret underground dungeon where I torture little boys like you."

As dual as ever, Rido looked back with a smile that was delightfully amused, and a glint in his eyes that was pure unbridled cruelty.

Kaname's little eyes went wide again, wondering if his uncle was serious. It didn't sound that far-fetched.

Rido's smile faded away as fast as it came and he turned away. The darkness in his voice was back full force. "The door leads to the wing of the manor where my fiancée lives. Maybe you can meet her sometime. After all, it's your mother's fault that Shizuka is now my fiancée, and that I have her locked away."

_I'm not going to make the same mistake again. If Juri had never been free to begin with, she may still have been mine now._

Kaname was still too young, and never quite knew whether Rido was fully serious or joking, but he was old enough to know when to stop asking questions and stay silent.

His uncle noticed the wary vibes coming from behind him and stopped on his tracks again.

"On second thought, let me show you something interesting…"

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(tbc)

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_Sagakure, August 28th 2008_

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_By now you're probably already noticing that this fic series has no real point or purpose, and is just interaction between Rido and Kaname. XD  
I wanted to paint how a visit to Rido's place would be for little Kaname, and how creepy Rido can be, but since it's still a few years before any major incident, there's no real tragic action, it's mostly just severe discomfort for Kaname. XD;  
__It's just a treat for fans of little Kaname or of Rido, and/or people who enjoy watching those two interact. XD_

_By the way, in the flashback on volume 5 when we see little Kaname meet Shizuka for the first time... It hasn't been stated that it was at Rido's place, but that's my theory._


	3. Chapter 3

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Title: "Family bonding?" – part 3

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"On second thought, let me show you something interesting…"

Rido grabbed onto Kaname's little hand again and pulled him into a smaller adjacent corridor, all the way to the end and up a narrow stairway.  
Kaname was starting to wonder if he was in trouble when Rido opened a pair of double doors leading to a large dark room. Kaname's sight immediately adjusted from the dim light of the lamps in the corridor to the room lit only by the moonlight coming in through the large windows.

It was a painting studio, the walls covered with rows and rows of canvases leaning against one another by groups, most covered by white sheets to protect them from the dust as they lay in organized lines leaning against the wall. Some were unfinished and still partially uncovered. A variety of papers and painting materials were scattered randomly on the many tables and small trolley carts all over the room, in an apparent chaos that might have some form of organization at the eyes of the artist.

Thick velvet curtains with a heavy-looking golden fringe framed the large window that covered almost the entire back wall. Beneath the window, an 18th century oriental divan draped with a brocade _jeté de canapé _gave the room a vague allure of a boudoir, contrasting with the rest of the contents. Papers covered in rough charcoal sketches sat atop the cushions, some spilling onto the ground, apparently uncared for.

In the center of the room throned a huge canvas panel, a corner of it partially covered by a protective white sheet that hung off to the side, revealing the main part of the painting. It was not yet complete, but most of the scene it depicted had already been finished. A painter's chair was placed in front of it, with a trolley covered in tubes of oil paint, rags and brushes next to it, indicating that the artist had probably been working on it recently.

Rido put a hand on the back of Kaname's head, pulling him forward and ensuring his attention was on the painting. It depicted a gorgeous woman with dark cascading curls, embracing a man in a voluptuous position that left no doubts whatsoever about what they were doing. The couple had gleaming blood-colored eyes, burning with lust for blood and each other.

Kaname gave it one glance and --horrified-- recognized the woman in it. He quickly covered his face, little hands strongly in place in front of his eyes.

"Oh, what now?! Did your parents tell you not to look at paintings either?!" Rido's bile was rising, from the tone of his voice snapping at Kaname.

"O-Only when it's… well, it's not… They said I could look at the naked art ones, but that I should leave _those_ types of pictures for later, but… but…"

The hand on the back of Kaname's head made itself less gentle, gripping the dark little curls in a painful manner.

"I see. You're implying that my art is pornography rather than an artistic nude…"

Kaname's attempt of fixing things up only made it worse. "Maybe… maybe erotica rather than porn?"  
Vampires matured a bit faster than humans, and could be pretty open about the theory aspect of such things, so Kaname knew the different definitions, but was too young to know that mentioning it to the painter might not be such a good idea.

The hand gripped the boy's hair a little more harshly than either of them had expected, and Kaname held back a little gasp. Rido was annoyed in general, rather than at the boy's remark. The painting wasn't vulgar, but it was clearly nowhere an artistic nude either, and he was complaining merely to fluster the boy further, searching for any excuse to lash out at him.

"Well, if you can tell the difference already, I think you're quite qualified to look!!"

Kaname didn't want to. He knew it was his mother on the painting, and he didn't want to see it. But Rido was in a cruel mood – as it was more and more often the case – and pushed on. "Do you recognize the man with her?"

_It's you. _But Kaname wouldn't say those words, he absolutely wouldn't. The dizzy haze he felt from the alcohol was slowly turning from tipsiness into a strange bitter feeling that was peeling away his prudence and self-protective instincts. He uncovered his eyes, struggling to turn his head towards his uncle --as well as he could manage with Rido's hand still gripping his hair-- and shot the older pureblood a vicious glare.

As vicious as a four years old child feeling completely dizzy and wanting to cry could muster, that is.

But it was furious enough that it took the other by surprise, especially since the child was a pureblood after all, and the glare had been accompanied by a snarl that revealed Kaname's extended tiny fangs, bared in clear preparation for battle.

Rido raised an eyebrow. He had expected fear from his nephew, perhaps even tears if he pushed the boy far enough – he was hoping for that, actually. But he didn't expect that cold fury, and it brought a smile to his face. He hated Haruka's softness, the meek way he tried to go for the best solution for everybody. In Rido's world, you took what you wanted, and crushed whoever stood in the way. Ironically, it was Haruka who took Juri from him.

Juri, who was so much more like him than like Haruka.

Juri, that he never expected would turn against him.

And he hated it all even more so because she chose the gentle brother over him. In Rido's world, gentleness was weakness.

He had always assumed Haruka's child would be weak. But the look Kaname was giving him was the look he would have wanted to see on his own child's face, and it gave him a strange form of distorted pride. This was Juri's child as well, after all. It might have been his child too if she hadn't left him.  
He couldn't possibly forgive Kaname for being born as the fruit of the union he hated above all else; he hated every fiber of the boy's being for it, for being the living embodiment of Juri leaving him. But at this current moment that hatred was set aside momentarily, placed in the background for a second, however much it couldn't possibly be ever fully forgotten. For just that one little instant, he felt some form of closeness with the child.

But it was just a brief flash of an instant, and a cold wave quickly washed away the unsettling feeling from his mind.

He had plans for the boy. Plans that he wasn't ready yet to set into motion, but for which he had been counting the days from the moment Kaname was born. No, from the moment Juri announced her pregnancy. Perhaps even from before that. From the moment Haruka and her got together, and Rido knew that sooner or later, they would have a child.

A child he would break, just to make them pay. No fruit of their union would ever survive, he would ensure that. At least, none would survive unscathed and whole. He would take them from the two fools, Kaname first, and then any other children their union might bear.

In a way, they brought that inevitable doom upon themselves, he thought. He would never have left his child anywhere near the hands of an obvious enemy, however close one may be to said enemy.

If he had a child he cared for, that is. Ironically, his hatred for Kaname was a much more passionate feeling than the complete lack of interest he had for his own offspring, both the boy born from that Shiki woman and the others he spawned left and right. Oh, he did value their lives, in that they were potential tools for him to use one day if needed, but it didn't go much farther than that. Kaname, on the other hand, occupied his mind quite often. Sometimes, he would lay awake in his bed, imagining all the things he would do when the time finally came to break him, picturing the pain on that little face, and the faces of Haruka and Juri distorted in horror once he was done. A dark delight would fill his body then, almost making him forget the emptiness he lived in daily.

But his masterpiece of a plan wasn't ready to be set in motion just yet. Another year or two, perhaps, and it would all be ready for the ritual he intended to do to awaken the ancestor of their clan and sacrifice to him the child's body. Until then, he had to keep the appearances, and the relative trust of his foolish siblings, so that he could maintain a certain access to Kaname. Not that they could stop him if he decided to break into their place and steal the boy away, but having free access to him certainly made things considerably easier.

As if he could instinctively sense the dangerous slope Rido's thoughts were sliding towards, Kaname was watching his face out of the corner of his eye. Rido peered down and gave him an utterly fake smile, while the hand in Kaname's hair changed from a painful grip to a gentle pat.

"Let's forget about that painting. Why don't you go sit on that couch over there like a good little boy while I paint something else?"

That sudden phony kindness set off new bells of alarm in Kaname's head, but he figured being farther away from his uncle could only be good, and the alcohol-induced haziness he felt himself sinking in more and more was seriously worrying him. Being around Rido required full time attention to avoid any potential dangers, and so the little pureblood needed every ounce of energy he could have. Under that light, resting on the couch didn't seem like such a bad idea.

He stepped away from his uncle a bit warily, as if he expected to spring a trap –or more exactly, as if he was expecting his uncle to attack him as soon as he had his back turned-- and walked across the room before hesitantly pulling the pile of drawings off to the side and climbing onto the divan. His little legs hanging over the side, Kaname laid back against the cushioned arm and eyed his uncle from afar, tempted to rest but not daring to close his eyes.

Rido had an odd smile on his face before pulling the large canvas off to the side, the heavy-duty easel it rested on sliding along easily, equipped with small wheels that could be locked to remain in place while painting and unlocked to move the painting around.  
He replaced it with a regular French-style easel and a smaller blank canvas, and sat down, shooting a glance to Kaname again before picking up some charcoal sticks in the easel's small drawer. He sketched around a little, then shot another quick glance at Kaname and returned his attention to the canvas once more.

With a mix of surprise and horror, Kaname suddenly realized that Rido was about to paint him. He made a movement as if to get up, but from behind the canvas, Rido made a hissing noise much akin to that one makes when the cat is about to jump on the table, immobilizing Kaname in instinctive fear.

_This couldn't be good. This couldn't be good at all._

The boy felt his sweat turn cold at the idea that he might end up in a painting as depraved as the other one, but from what little he could perceive of Rido's current mood, it seemed to be strangely amused and cheerful rather than his usual creepiness that never ceased to make Kaname's hair stand on the back of his neck.

Eventually, the wine and the extreme boredom a little child couldn't help but feel while laying still for a while won over other considerations, and Kaname only realized he had dozed off when he heard his uncle chuckling.

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(tbc)

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_The way Rido looks, his tousled/messy hair, his clothes, I can't help but think he would be a messy artist, with sketch sheets scattered all over the ground in his painting studio, and random paintings half finished leaning against the walls etc. XD_


	4. Chapter 4

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Title: "Family bonding?" – part 4

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Panic flooded the little pureblood at first, at the idea that he had accidentally fallen asleep in his uncle's presence. Not that he could realistically do anything to protect himself by being awake – if Rido decided to harm him, there was nothing he could currently do to stop the older vampire.  
But regardless of that, he felt safer when he was awake, and was always wary of sleeping in that house. He made sure to always lock the door of the guest room he stayed in the few times he had to sleep over. It would never have stopped a pureblood, but it might have made enough noise to warn him and let him prepare himself for whatever might come.

Dozing off on a divan in the same room with Rido was very far from Kaname's idea of safety. As soon as he realized he'd been sleeping, the boy quickly went through a mental check up of his clothes and the surroundings, worrying about how long he had slept. He found it all undisturbed and realized nothing had happened, save for a few papers that had slipped off the divan where the little pureblood's feet had fumbled around in his sleep and pushed them off. He froze for a second, hoping his uncle wouldn't mind his sketches being thrown on the ground or pushed around by his feet.

But Rido seemed to be in an excellent mood, which further worried Kaname. The older pureblood was currently standing back and dabbing in last minute little details on the painting, placing soft touches on some areas of it to finish the highlighting and other details.

"Don't just lay there lazily, I know you're awake! Come on, take a look at this. The painting is done!"

The little pureblood jumped off the divan unsteadily and approached his uncle with a wary expression. As he did so, Rido turned the easel around so that the moonlight would hit it fully and Kaname could see the painting in its full glory.

The little vampire's face fell in shock.

"So, how about some praise? I prettified you considerably in my beautiful painting."

"But… but…"

"What? You dare tell me you don't like your portrait?!"

Rido had a contemptuous grin on his face, and was leaning his folded arms lightly on the top of the canvas, uncaring for the excess paint around the sides of it, currently getting on his shirt. That was a common occurrence for him, to the point that he occasionally cleaned his brushes on his tailored shirts as he painted – it wasn't as if he couldn't get new ones, and his changing moods made that he rather liked getting new ones rather than keeping old stuff around.

He feigned anger at the boy's shock, but in truth he was delighted, reveling in every little bit of it with inevitable amusement. A flustered Kaname was even more entertaining than a normal Kaname, and cruel as Rido may be, his sadistic streak could enjoy the cuteness too, especially when it came in such an amusing little package, blushing and trying to find his words to avoid offending him. Scaring Kaname was as delightful as ever too.

Kaname wasn't sure if his uncle was serious or not though – he still couldn't tell – and was wary of what words to use to express his disapproval.

Rido poked on. "It's cute. That's what matters. Don't you like being cute? At your age, it's really the only thing you can hope for, don't go expecting power or glory or whatever grandiose like that." The glint of delight in the older pureblood's eyes was unmistakable. Oh, how Kaname wished he was older and more powerful already, to wipe that grin off his uncle's face.

The little vampire raised hesitant eyes to meet his uncle's again and finally had enough of it. To hell with prudence.

"But I'm not supposed to be a girl!!"

On the painting, he was. An adorable little girl, in a frilly white dress that looked made of countless layers of lace and interlaced ribbons, sleeping on an elegant divan and looking like a tiny princess of times long gone, straight out of a fairytale.

At first sight, Kaname had frozen, because for a second he thought Rido had painted a slightly older, shorter-haired Yuuki, and if there was one thing his parents and him wanted to hide from Rido above anything else, it was her existence. But quickly, he had recognized the couch and himself, despite the dress, and embarrassment at being portrayed in a dress had colored his little cheeks.

"What? Why are you complaining? You'd be even cuter if you were a girl, I'm doing you a favor by painting you that way. Don't tempt me to turn you into a girl in real life too!"

Kaname's eyes went as wide as they could go, before he quickly tried to regain his much abused composure. _Could he do such a thing?! Surely, there's no such pureblood ability? Unless he means doing that by some more painful method?!_

Kaname felt a irrepressible urge to get away from his uncle quickly, but Rido was just snickering uncontrollably.

"If I had the dress in the painting here with me, I'd make you wear it too! That might teach you to appreciate art!"

The dress was actually one that Juri had worn long ago, thousands of years before, when all three of the siblings had been children, and when he could look at her and feel happy rather than furious. She was absolutely adorable in it. And much as he despised Kaname, he had to admit the boy would be cute in it too, regardless of gender.

Rido wasn't sure why he painted her dress in the picture, or why he went on hurting himself that way. Perhaps it was whatever little was left of his better sides that did that, out of some foolish attraction for the past; what softness he had left, slowly eroding away over the years, eaten up by the raw hatred bubbling up inside him more and more with which second that passed since the day she left him.

It had already taken up such a big part of him that some days he felt there was nothing left of the gentler side he had possessed one day, however much small it might have already been to begin with. But he certainly used to be mellower than he was now, before he was consumed by hatred constantly. That time was long gone, that side of him replaced by the boiling fury that lay waiting during the past few years, hiding inside him, so that no one would suspect a thing until it would be time. Until the day it would boil over, until the day everything would be finally ready and he would be able to exact gruesome revenge on the fools, and hit them where it would hurt most, tearing from them the innocent little boy standing in front of him right now.

Kaname sucked in his breath and stepped back quickly, feeling the stormy darkness in his uncle's aura all of a sudden. Rido's eyes had flashed a gleaming shade of dark red for a second.

"I was going to force you to take the painting home with you and display it, but it's not like it matters or I care anyway!"

The older pureblood concentrated his power in a whirlpool of crackling energy around his hand. He didn't bother drawing blood, the energy alone would be enough for this without having to pull out blood whips.

He was fearsome beyond belief that way, a dark gaze on his face and his teeth clenched in a sneer that revealed his extended fangs, much more frightening than he normally was even when he appeared in Kaname's occasional nightmares. The dark energy swirling around him brought forth all the shadows in the room, like a rapidly growing storm.

The little boy wondered if this was going to be the moment he had always feared might come one day, the possibility that was the very main reason why he hated visiting his uncle.  
But Rido merely swung his arm up in the direction the painting was, and it shredded to pieces, canvas, easel and brushes alike, the dark wave of energy consuming it all in a moment and searing through the air beyond it, reaching all the way to the paintings against the wall, destroying all in its path, shredding to pieces the one of Juri and him and much of what was leaning against the wall, paintings and art material together.

Rido's foul mood was at its worst. He walked away from the destruction and the chunks of wood and shredded canvases, leaving them abandoned where they fell, not even caring to check what he destroyed and what might have survived.

Small as Kaname may be, the little pureblood's self preservation instincts were very good and he was able to hide the glee he felt at seeing both paintings destroyed, especially the one of his mother in such a disturbing situation. He watched Rido storm out of the room, not sure what his uncle expected of him, but not exactly feeling like annoying the older pureblood by following him around when he was in such a disposition.

From the corridor, Rido barked "Are you going to stay alone in there inhaling paint fumes or are you coming with me?!" in a tone that left no doubt about whether the boy was supposed to stay or tag along.

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(tbc)

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A slightly shorter chapter this time. :)  
In the next one, we shall perhaps see what Rido thinks of pets. (And more exactly, how he views little Kaname as little more than a stray cat he wishes he could hand a can of cat food to and let him fend for himself. XD lol)


	5. Chapter 5

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**Title: "Family bonding?" – part 5**

_Chapter 5 is here! :D Sorry for the delay! W00t, the fic is now complete! :D_

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They walked in silence down the stairway, and to Kaname's surprise, Rido seemed to have either regained his spirits somewhat, or was sporting a very good mask, because the little pureblood couldn't perceive anymore even a hint of the stormy aura and seething anger that he had clearly felt emanating from his uncle when he destroyed the paintings.

He was musing on whether that was a good sign or a reason to worry further about the other's intentions when his uncle's voice startled him.

"Last time you came over, Juri was so unpleasant when she came to collect you, just because I had forgotten to feed you for a mere day or two. Pfff."

The older pureblood ran a hand through his hair in a gesture of vague annoyance, perhaps a remnant of the fury he displayed earlier, but remarkably toned down or in any case very well hidden.

He glanced down at Kaname and the boy froze in his steps, his little face jolting up to look at his uncle with garnet eyes gleaming dully red in the dimly lit stairway, trying to guess if he should be worried yet or not. Rido looked morose, but not angry, so Kaname had trouble deciding whether he was likely to be in danger at the moment or not yet.

Rido continued, in a vaguely accusing tone "It's entirely your fault too. You're supposed to tell me if you need food or whatever. I don't know what larvae like you need to survive. I'm a beautiful, powerful being who's lived thousands of years."

At the top of his four years of age, Kaname absolutely despised when Rido did that. He froze on the steps for a second, automatically pouting before he could stop himself.

It didn't matter that Rido was over four thousand years old, it still seemed so unfair. And it wasn't as if guessing when a child might need to eat was such a difficult thing after all. The few times he was forced to visit his uncle, as soon as Juri was out of sight Kaname was treated like an unwanted pet of some sort, or a potted plant whom the uninterested caretaker would regularly forget to water. Rido had fun annoying him, but it didn't go farther than that.

Beyond the passionate hatred and the carefully plotted future revenge, Rido more or less viewed Kaname as little more than a stray cat he wished he could hand a can of cat food to and let him fend for himself without having to bother caring for him. He only accepted the boy to come over to keep the appearances and be able to have access to him when the time of his revenge finally came... as a result, he quite naturally wasn't very motivated to do anything for him beyond the bare necessary.

If Rido _could_ feed Kaname cat food, he doubtlessly would. As it was, he walked towards the dining area with a sudden unpleasant realization in the back of his mind. There was something he had over-looked, and it was about to come bite him back now.

They walked into a dazzling dining room, large enough to easily seat a few hundred guests, with a ceiling as tall as a cathedral and splendid crystal chandeliers hanging in a classic line through the center.  
Rido crossed the room in large strides, heedless of the hurried little steps behind him, as Kaname trotted along to be able to keep up. No lights were on, as neither needed them to see in the dark, but the little boy was used to his parents always having a number of lamps on, diffusing a warm and comfortable light that gave any room a cozy atmosphere, and the contrast made Rido's manor seem even creepier than its owner already caused it to be.

As they approached the edge of the room that was closer to the kitchens, the little pureblood slowed down, surprised to find some weird piles of dusty material on the ground, like piles of sand in random spots. He hopped over some and walked around the ones that were scattered over larger areas. _What __**was**__ that?!_

He was too young to realize exactly what it was, but his instincts made him extra wary.

"Oh, damn it!" Rido's voice echoed from the kitchen, and Kaname crossed the service area separating it from the dining room and peered in carefully from in-between the double doors leading to the kitchen.

His uncle was looking displeased while standing in front of a sink full of dirty dishes. The whole kitchen was a mess.

Rido spoke to himself in a sardonic voice. "_Note for self_: Next time the stupid servants annoy you, wait to kill them once they're done cleaning up after the party, not before."

Kaname stared, unsure whether a reaction was expected of him or not. A part of him understood then what the random piles of dust were: dead vampires. A shudder ran up his little spine, and he automatically started frantically rubbing the soles of his shoes on the clean ground all around himself, trying to get rid of whatever creepy dust might be attached to them.

Rido was poking through his cupboards, trying to find anything clean to eat on, and failing. It had been a particularly large party, but it was still shocking that he couldn't find anything.  
It didn't help that he'd barely ever been in his own kitchen and had no idea where anything was supposed to be.

He momentarily gave up the search and went for the fridge instead. The prospect of what food they might have wasn't much better. Raw items were out of the picture, as neither of them could realistically cook, and to make things worse, it looked like he might have killed the servants just before market day as well. _What bad timing, really._

Idly, Rido found a raw potato and glanced back at Kaname, wondering if he could feed it to him. Amidst his decreasing motivation to go on rummaging through the fridge, the older pureblood was _almost_ tempted to offer his blood so they'd be done and over with it without him having to bother with such annoyances as figuring out what to feed the kid. But that wouldn't do, Juri was adamant that the boy be given actual food, and while blood was necessary for the survival of vampires, so was food, and one didn't replace the other.

Rido was almost to the point where he might overcome the laziness to go out and buy food when he spotted a container of split pea soup that was apparently a left-over from the starters of the previous dinner. _Perfect!!_

There was way more than enough for two, it could definitely be classified in the "decent food" category as per motherly opinions, and it shouldn't be too bothersome to prepare.

He just wished Kaname was one of those kids who disliked soup, or vegetables or whatever, but unfortunately, the boy wasn't difficult and would probably enjoy it. In his ever present '_kindness'_, Rido would rather have preferred if Kaname hated the soup.

Preparing it was less of an easy task as it had seemed, as Rido initially took forever to figure out how to work the stove, then promptly set it too high and burned the bottom of the soup contents before he realized re-heating required less fire, or that he should mix the whole thing so that the thicker parts didn't attach to the bottom.

Kaname watched his uncle cook, staying a safe distance away and retreating even farther back when Rido started cursing after burning his hand.  
The little pureblood wasn't sure if he might end up being part of the dinner too if he stayed too close and his uncle got angry... When in doubt, stay away from Rido. So he carefully waited at the very edge of the kitchen, partially behind the semi-open door.

Meanwhile, the older pureblood was aware of the hunger in the boy's aura, and was vaguely divided between an inevitable temptation to make him wait longer, and his own growing hunger. He settled for a compromise.

There were no clean bowls that he could find, but he spotted some large mugs normally used for hot chocolate in the winter – rarely _ever_ used, truth to be said – and they could serve as makeshift soup bowls quite well.

Rido poured the soup quickly, grabbed spoons and some paper towels – just as he had no idea where the things were supposed to be in the kitchen, he also had no idea where the servants put the napkins, so paper would have to do -- and set it all in a tray, bringing it out.  
The dining room was a little bit chaotic at the moment, so he simply took it all to the drawing room instead, where a comfortable couch and a low table awaited them. Unorthodox and even shocking in the eyes of traditionalists, but it would have to do.

Kaname followed him all along, somewhat reassured that they wouldn't be eating among the piles of dead dust. He still kept a safe distance from his uncle, but he inhaled the fragrant scent of the soup in the air with a look of delight on his innocent little face.

Rido seemed quite decided to serve the soup as fast as possible, and motioned urgently for his nephew to join him, handing him a spoon as soon as Kaname approached.

They sat side by side on the couch, Rido having pulled the table closer and placed the would-be bowls in front of them.

"So? What are you waiting?"

Little Kaname looked at his soup with vague distrust. It's not that he expected it to really be poisoned, but his instincts inevitably told him that it wasn't too reassuring that Rido was so determined to see him eating first.

Kaname looked at his uncle, then at the bowl and as his own spoon, hesitating and trying to gain time. Rido sighed, and took a spoonful from his own bowl, bringing it quickly up to his lips, with a look that clearly said "See?! It's perfectly safe."

Kaname was _very_ hungry, and the soup did look perfectly innocent, so why not?

He took a spoonful and put it in his mouth, then immediately sputtered and coughed, swallowing with difficulty as he realized it was burning hot.  
If not for the very few remains of his sense of self-preservation, he would have openly glowered at his uncle, who was now sporting a sadistically delighted look all over his face. So that's why he had been in such a hurry to get them to eat. So that the soup wouldn't have time to cool down.

Belatedly, Kaname realized Rido's spoon was still full, and he had merely feigned to drink the soup to lure his nephew into doing the same.

_Oh, that does it._

If his uncle was going to behave like a kindergartener, then the one in age of doing so might as well do the same. Kaname forgot all his prudence as the anger rose to his head.

"Coward."

The word was said in a somewhat quiet voice, but it echoed in the silence of the room like a slap to the face.

"_**WHAT**_ did you just say, whelp?!"

The outrage was tangible in Rido's voice and in his bewildered eyes.

Surprisingly though, it wasn't tinted with the dark anger he had displayed when he destroyed the paintings, but with the near mirth he felt when Kaname had snarled at him earlier. The little vampire's defiance somehow amused him to no end, insulting as it may be.  
He must be going out of his mind, he thought. And yet, it was perhaps precisely because he never expected the little boy to dare to speak to him in such terms that he found himself oddly disinclined to do something horrible to him in return, or at least not yet. He was terribly curious with this unexpected turn of events, and wanted to know how far Kaname was going with this, so he pushed on.

"_What_ did you just call me?!"

"Coward. You want me to drink the burning soup, yet you won't do it yourself."

For all his four thousand years of age, Rido could be childish when faced with such a simple argument.

"Of course I will! Unlike you, I'm not a weakling who gets burned so easily! I can drink and be completely unharmed!"

The look Kaname returned him was clear challenge and told him the boy didn't believe him.

Rido fumed, and quickly took a spoonful of soup and slid it in his mouth, swallowing it as if he was perfectly fine.

"See?!"

"You're in pain too."

"I assure you I'm not."

"You were clenching your fist against the cushion when you swallowed. You underestimate me too much."

"Shut up!! Like you can do better!"

The two proceeded to drink their soup while glaring at each other. Rido was naturally much better at feigning that it wasn't scorching hot, but Kaname did his very best too, and despite the inevitable cuteness, his insistence was like a thorn in the side of Rido's pride, and the older pureblood's was slowly starting to get vaguely more annoyed than he had been amused a moment ago.

This called for a new challenge. Not a good prospect for Kaname.

As soon as they were done with the bowls of soup, Rido walked out of the room and came back with a large box.

Kaname felt his sweat turn cold at the sight, wondering what was inside – and hoping he wouldn't be stuffed inside or anything.

Rido popped open the top and revealed it was actually a large case of blood wine bottles.

"Now we'll see who's a coward!!"

Kaname had a mortified look on his face as Rido uncorked a bottle and shoved it in front of the boy with a cruel glint in his mismatched eyes.

After a few hours, Kaname was horrified by the apparent multiplication of Ridos in front of him. There were three, he could swear, though it looked kind of like four if he squinted. He was quite worried. One was more than enough trouble already, much less three or four.

His uncle wasn't faring much better, which truth to be said was only fair, considering he'd drank _several_ bottles already, while Kaname was falling apart after a mere two small cups and a half.

Rido stared at the boy for a while with apparent surprise, then latched onto him and pulled him closer to him, mumbling in a slurred voice "Juri!!" in response to which Kaname quite frantically insisted "No I'm not!! No, I'm not!" but it was to no avail, as the older pureblood didn't seem to hear him in the least and clung to him in a tight embrace.

--

It was the middle of the afternoon the next day when Juri arrived back at Rido's manor. She parked quickly and rushed for the door.

He would only be expecting her later probably, but she had wanted to come and get Kaname as soon as possible, so she just came directly after Haruka and her returned from the airport. She dropped her husband at home first because Rido was usually in a more amiable mood when they didn't come together.

The doorbell rang and rang, but no one came. Juri started knocking on the door hard, but it was also to no avail.

Her patience was considerably smaller now than it had been when she waited in front of the door the previous day – back then, she was just annoyed to be made to wait, while now she was seriously worried about how Kaname was faring.  
Vampires should already be awake by now, so Rido had no excuses to not come to the door, unless something was dreadfully wrong.

Not wanting to wait any longer, Juri used her power to unlock the door a bit brutally, and ran in. She crossed the long corridors in a rush, searching, guiding herself by where she felt Rido's aura coming from. She could feel Kaname's one too, but it was _so faint_. Clear panic was now rising in her chest, multiplying tenfold the worry she had already been feeling before.

She finally narrowed it down to a drawing room and flung the door open, finding herself faced by the unexpected sight of Rido apparently asleep on his side on the couch, with his front facing the wall, his hair tousled and his clothes crumpled, looking like he had fallen asleep in his day --or better saying, night-- clothes.

Juri approached carefully, finding it highly suspicious that he didn't wake up with the door opening, something normally impossible for a pureblood. As she got close enough to see what was between Rido and the back of the couch, she found something both unsettling and almost frightening.

Protectively cradled in Rido's arms, Kaname was sleeping peacefully, his little face buried against his uncle's chest. Both were apparently deeply asleep, curled up in each other's arms. It was a picture of such peaceful innocence that Juri couldn't possibly believe her eyes. She covered her lips in amazement.

In his sleep, Rido pulled Kaname closer, nuzzling his hair gently as he whispered softly "Juri", very clearly mistaken over the nature of the person he held lovingly in his arms.

A vein bulged suddenly in Juri's temple, and right about then, she stepped back and her foot struck something on the ground, which she had failed to see before due to her worry.

A bottle.

An _empty_ bottle.

One of many, to be more exact. There were more on the table and in the box next to the couch, all empty…

So that was why no one was waking up.

**"Rido, you are SO DEAD!!"**

Her scream echoed through the entire house, jarring the two sleepers awake brutally.

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The End

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Sorry that Rido was such a jerk in this chapter. XD;; Well, he wasn't much nicer in the previous ones either. XD;;  
About the soup, I think something more fancy like a vichyssoise would be much more likely to be served as an appetizer in the party, but then, it would have been cold rather than hot, and I also happen to love split pea soup, and wanted to feed it to little Kaname, even if his experience of it unfortunately wasn't as pleasant since Rido just had to go and serve it too hot. XD;; Poor little Kaname.

Rido's age is made up, by the way. We only know Juri's aproximate age, canonically, not Rido's or Haruka's.

_And unrelatedly, yay, the fic is now complete! :D_

_It was fun to write, even if it was just pointless interaction between the two, more of a slice-of-life thing than anything more action oriented. But both types are fun to write! :D  
I hope you enjoyed it, and thank you for reading! :D_


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